Twenty years later, I’m ready to change…

I had been avoiding the dating scene. Relationships were just too hard—and all of mine had ended badly.

I stopped trying, and went about my life. Then I met a wonderful guy. He was divorced, and I learned that his ex-wife is an alcoholic. Like me, he had also grown up in an alcoholic home. We shared a common bond.

He was going to Al‑Anon regularly. I had been to two meetings—about twenty years ago. I remember feeling frustrated because I just wanted to be told how to make the alcoholic in my life stop drinking. The meetings didn’t give me that information, so I stopped going.

Then my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to go to an open meeting. I was concerned that, even though I was no longer living with any alcoholics, something was wrong with my thinking that was affecting me—at work and in all my relationships.

I wanted to change. I really liked this man, and I didn’t want to fall into my old patterns of pushing my boyfriends away, so, I sought out my own Al‑Anon meeting.

I’ve only been attending meetings for a short while, but I love it. I love the people, and as I try to practice some of the principles, I see the program really helping me in areas that have always been problems for me. I love its spiritual aspect. I feel that my attitude has improved already.

It’s really neat to work my program, and to let my boyfriend work his. I intend to “Keep Coming Back.” Twenty years after my initial start with Al‑Anon, I’m now ready to work on me.